Carbon Offsets are designed to eliminate emissions, though Oxford and Penn research illustrate that they do not always achieve true emissions reductions.
How Do Offsets Work?
Techniques such as forest conservation or renewable energy projects yield credits that denote emissions avoided or erased. Companies or individuals purchase these credits so they can cancel their own emissions. Offsets started to be used in 1989, when the first offset was created, and since then, the number of offset transactions has risen to several billion dollars.
Where Do They Fail?
Offsets have several limitations, notably pertaining to additionality, leakage, permanence and double counting, for instance. One analysis indicated that less than 16% of the credits generated by offsets are real reductions, while the results of another inquiry suggest that rainforest credits can be deemed phantom credits, although the issuer contradicts this.
What Should Be Done? – carbon offsets
The authors of the review recommend discontinuing most offsets except for the permits that involve permanent removal of emissions. While protecting forests is very important, it is more important to reduce one’s own emissions before claiming to be carbon neutral.
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